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'Fallen London' and the secret to writing an infinite gothic game
Writing a video game is nothing like penning a novel. But writing a never-ending, nonlinear, text-driven video game about a hellish alternate London stuffed with gothic intrigue and nearly a decade of backstory? That's a different beast altogether. "Novels follow protagonists, but in Fallen London, the protagonist is the player, and they're a mystery to us," Failbetter Games narrative director Chris Gardiner says. "While we know some things about them -- mostly the decisions they've made in the game -- there's still a lot we can't assume. Novels have a plot; there's no spinal plot to Fallen London, no single story we're telling and will finish. We're exploring a setting, establishing its status quo, then letting the player kick bits of it over. Novels are complete, while Fallen London is a living game. We add new stories and events to it constantly."
Ubisoft confirms next Assassin's Creed for Victorian London
The next major entry in the Assassin's Creed series will reportedly be set in London. According to sources close to Kotaku, the game will take place in the Victorian era, which makes some sense of the reported codename for the next rooftop-leaping game, "Victory." Expected to launch in fall 2015, Victory will seemingly be the first game in the series developed by Ubisoft Quebec, the studio named as the lead of the game by the publisher in July. The report also notes that Victory will be the only Assassin's Creed game to launch next year, and is not planned for previous-generation systems (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360). We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment, and will update as we learn more. Update: Ubisoft has confirmed the leak, offering the following comment: "It is always unfortunate when internal assets, not intended for public consumption, are leaked. And, while we certainly welcome anticipation for all of our upcoming titles, we're disappointed for our fans, and our development team, that this conceptual asset is now public. The team in our Quebec studio has been hard at work on the particular game in question for the past few years, and we're excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date. In the meantime, our number one priority is enhancing the experience of Assassin's Creed Unity for players." [Image: Ubisoft]
We know you didn't get this Steampunk Etch-a-Sketch for Christmas, but you probably want it now, don't you?
What you're looking at above is a real, actual object found in the material world. It's an Etch-a-Sketch so modified, as to look like a glorious leftover from a bygone era that never was. What era, you ask? Oh, the Victorian era -- so named for the United Kingdom's longest reigning monarch -- with a great dash of fancy added into the mix. We're talking alternate history, people! A history so wonderful, so beautiful, that a lowly red plastic Etch-a-Sketch could end up both complex and inordinately heavy looking. Made by an industrious youth as a Christmas gift for a chum, we couldn't imagine a better way to make this boring old gadget look so jolly well festive. Hurrah!
Google helps scholars mine 1.7 million Victorian era book titles for clues to our historical attitudes
Whether we like, loathe, or never even considered the idea of it, quantitative literary analysis seems ready for its moment in the spotlight. Dan Cohen and Fred Gibbs, a pair of historians of science over at George Mason University, have been playing around with the titles of some nearly 1.7 million books -- accounting for all the known volumes published in Britain during the 19th century -- in a search for enlightenment about the Victorian era's cultural trends and developments. By looking at how often certain words appear in text titles over time, they can find corroboration or perhaps even refutation for the commonly held theories about that time -- although they themselves warn that correlation isn't always indicative of causation. Their research has been made possible by Google's Books venture, which is busily digitizing just about every instance of the written word ever, and the next stage will be to try and mine the actual texts themselves for further clues about what our older selves thought about the world. Any bets on when the word "fail" was first used as a noun?
Massively Exclusive Interview: MindFuse's Isa Anne Stamos on Gatheryn
With the oversaturation of fantasy in the MMO genre, we've been patiently waiting to get our hands on the steampunk victorian coolness of Gatheryn. An indie title currently under development by Mindfuse, Gatheryn seems to be part virtual world and part mini-game laden MMO, much like Free Realms. Considering how wildly popular Free Realms has become in a short period, many eyes are now turning to Gatheryn to see if the combination of casual minigames in a fun, unique MMO/VW setting can strike gold again. Massively's very own Managing Editor, Shawn Schuster sat down recently with Isa Anne Stamos, Game Studio Director for MindFuse, to find out some more about the future of this retro-feel title.Massively: We first took a look at Gatheryn at GDC earlier this year, and liked what we saw so far. Can you describe some of the major feature changes or updates to the game since then? Isa Anne Stamos, MindFuse: Generally, we've been focusing on building out the early stages of the Gatheryn experience – adjusting the layout of the city, adding variations to character customization, and creating a deep casual gaming experience that players can enjoy the minute they enter Gatheryn. Specifically, we just added a Player Health feature that measures your avatar's fatigue and gives us some creative options for healing items and quests. We're also filling in a lot of the quests and minigames – we've probably added a few since you saw us at GDC. We're also working hard to build up the community tools because we rely heavily on them to communicate with our beta users - they're crucial to getting player feedback in these early stages of development.
Dusktreaders MMO is not put on hold afterall
Yesterday, we reported on an interview with Dusktreaders lead developer Erik Hyrkas and the VirginWorlds MMO news site regarding the upcoming MMO being put on hold for a "lighter" version on the iPhone. After being contacted by Mr. Hyrkas, we've learned that there may have been some misunderstandings, and the Dusktreaders MMO is actually alive and kicking. "The main Dusktreaders MMO is not on hold, and in terms of art generation, it's actually at full steam." Hyrkas said in a follow-up email. "Most of the art for the mobile edition either existed and was just slimmed down or if it was created, it was created at a level of quality that was useful for the MMO and then stripped down for the mobile edition. It is probably fair to say that the coding aspects of the MMO have slowed down, since I'm one of the principle developers -- however, much of the code is already in place and we've just been world building recently. The development side isn't the bottleneck for the moment on the MMO -- though it could be before we're done and has been a few times in the past."We thank Mr. Hyrkas for the clarification and look forward to more news on the game in the future.
Gathryn incorporates new engine technology
The World of Gatheryn, an MMO which, despite its name, is not about mining nodes and chopping wood, has just announced its implementation of the Simultronics HeroEngine for this upcoming Victorian-age MMO.In a statement by Joseph Walters, Lead Designer and Chief Executive Officer of MindFuse Games, we get an explanation of why these "off-site" engines are becoming so popular for smaller MMO developers like MindFuse, "The engine enables our team to spend time creating the experience instead of recreating the already-proven type of server side MMOG technology that Simutronics has built so effectively."Be sure to check out more information on the Gatheryn MMO, as well as what this Simultronics HeroEngine has to offer.
MindFuse's The World of Gatheryn detailed, kinda dated
MindFuse Games, which a couple of weeks ago announced it had raised $1 million in funding for a Victorian-themed MMO, sent out a press release yesterday officially announcing and providing details about the game, which is called The World of Gatheryn. Gatheryn is not merely Victorian, as we originally reported -- there are steampunk elements too.The focus seems casual, although the graphics are quite strapping for an independent game. MindFuse promises character customization, apartments, and puzzles, while specifically singling out violent conflict as a no-go. It seems to be a mostly laid back, friendly, social affair, but aimed at grown ups rather than pre-teens, in contrast to a lot of other casual titles.When we say the game has been pseudo-dated, it's a bit of a stretch: the press release says it'll be released in 2009. When in 2009? Your guess is as good as ours, but we'll bet it's not soon.
MindFuse gets $1M in funding for a Victorian MMO
For all of you Elf and lightning bolt haters out there, MindFuse may have found a solution to your MMO blues. As was recently announced, the game developer has secured $1 million USD in convertible note funding from Keiretsu Forum angel investors for an MMO project they're currently working on. What project is that, you might ask? According to the MindFuse website, they're developing a Victorian-themed MMO entitled The World of Gatheryn.The game is described as "a massive multi-player world of adventure, mystery and romance." It's said to include interactive games and puzzles, with "new adventures appearing with each successful solution." So is this what we've been waiting for? It's not high fantasy. It's not cheesy sci-fi. Can a Victorian Age MMO work for those looking for something different? Take a tour through the website and check out the gorgeous screenshots, gameplay explanation and storyline entry for yourself, and let us know what you think.
DIYer crafts Victorian-style all-in-one PC
It's getting tough for steampunk fans to out-do one another these days, but DIYer Jake von Slatt has taken a solid shot at the crown with his latest creation, which one-ups most of the competition by going the all-in-one route. Of course, the fact that added thickness only adds extra character in this case makes things slightly easier but, as you can see in the fairly thorough how-to linked below, it's still not something to be attempted lightly, with it even including a nail-biting encounter of a monitor with a table saw. Click on through for a video of that, and plenty more pictures of the entire process.[Via Uber Review]
Australian schools to make texting a subject?
Kids these days have all the luck it seems -- not only can they undermine proctors by texting answers around the classroom, but now Victorian middle-schoolers may get the chance to take SMS 101. University of Melbourne's John Frow has insinuated that teaching children the value of abbreviations commonly used in text messages may give kids the opportunity to enjoy learning about the underpinnings of the English language. While he does admit that there's no educational merit in teaching 8 to 10-year olds how to establish an after school 'roo-riding party with as few characters as possible, he feels that lessons in texting can lead to a deeper understanding about "important translations from one language to another" and give youngsters the chance to "think critically" about the way we communicate. While Federal Minister Julie Bishop has "condemned" the notion of basing a course around SMS, Victorian Education Minister Lynn Kosky is backing the Victorian school systems, but whether or not the presumably anxious students will ever get the luxury of TXTNG 4 A PROF remains to be seen.[Via Textually]
